“We are going to seize anything of worth that you may have for the value of the outstanding taxes and if that is not enough we are going to take the body to court”. That’s the most recent threat leveled by Acting Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Viralee Lattibeaudiere, as she addressed a recent joint press conference at the KSAC. Mrs. Lattibeaudiere also disclosed that persons would be recruited for training as bailiffs and that space would be rented to store seized goods. The Acting Inland Revenue Commissioner also advised of the Governments intention to reactivate the Quit Rents Act under which persons properties would be seized and sold for unpaid property taxes. "This is how serious we are going to get. I urge individuals to heed the Minister's call to pay up arrears. It will not be business as usual," she warned.
Quit Rent is a form of levy or land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a higher landowning authority, usually government or its assigns. Some governments have now abolished the quit rent system and relieved those with a nominal quit rent obligation from the requirement to pay it, replacing quit rents with a uniform system of land tax. However in other countries, such as Malaysia, quit rent remains an important means of raising revenue from landowners. A full copy of the Quit Rents Act is provided below:
Quit Rent is a form of levy or land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a higher landowning authority, usually government or its assigns. Some governments have now abolished the quit rent system and relieved those with a nominal quit rent obligation from the requirement to pay it, replacing quit rents with a uniform system of land tax. However in other countries, such as Malaysia, quit rent remains an important means of raising revenue from landowners. A full copy of the Quit Rents Act is provided below:
2 comments:
I saw the complete presentation of Mrs Lattibeaudiere on LOVE TV and it came across as mean spirited and completely out of step with the spirit of cooperation which the Govt. has been seemingly seeking to foster. Mark you, though I noted that Mayor McKenzie was rather cool to her suggestions about seizing "everything of worth" and then "taking the body to court" to collect taxes, its up to the Finance Minister Mr Shaw and/or the Prime Minister to clarify if this is really the strategy as we go forward. For those who will spout the usual nonsense about what obtains in the USA, please be reminded that at no time in the US could you raise someones property taxes by 600 - 800 percent (as obtains routinely in Jamaica) and not even advise them but then seek to take punitive action against them. Further what of the elderly who have been retired for some time and exist on a fixed income ravaged by inflation? Where exactly are they supposed to get the income to pay these ridiculous Property Tax rates? Governance by intimidation is not a sensible strategy and the Golding regime would be advised to abandon that thought process. Jamaicans voted out the Simpson-Miller regime in part because of the arrogance being displayed. However at the rate things are going this JLP regime is on its way out as they seemed to have learnt nothing from the mistakes of the previous regime. Thanks for posting the Act...
I thought the tax amnesty was going well, is there really a need for all this?
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